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The tales of a rogueish wolf and his life on the high seas. |
| [Introduction]
Imagine a world populated by humanoid animals, in a time period much like our own during the Golden Age of Piracy. Just like our own world, many notorious criminals sail the seas at this period in history, robbing, pillaging and generally causing as much pain for the authorities of the nations as they can. One such bandit of the sea, John Rogers, better known as "Captain Silverblade" due to his signature weapon, a Cutlass with a blade of pure silver, made quite a name for himself. For years he captured vessels of any nation unlucky enough to cross his path, be they Navy, merchants or other pirates. Then, without explanation, he seemed to just vanish. Some say he was killed in battle. Others say he was captured and executed, but no official records of such a thing exist. Whatever the case, his legend seemed to have to official conclusion. Until one day, decades after his disappearance, his personal log is found, detailing his entire life from childhood to his days as a pirate and beyond. Thus, our tale begins. |
| As a new age of industry and advancement had just begun in the world, so too did a relic of the previous era pass from this life. Mr. Thomas Booker was renowned as a man of fine taste in life, though nobody really seemed to know how he had acquired his fortune. It was a matter of much debate and speculation, though none of his peers ever discussed it in his presence. But as with all mortal beings, his age soon caught up with him, and he was found in his bed one morning by the maid, having passed peacefully in his sleep. About a week later, as his funeral service had concluded and he was buried beside his wife, who had passed about a decade prior, a young feline by the name of Barnabas Raggs was surprised to be informed he was a beneficiary in Mr. Booker's will. For the last year of his life, Barnabas had spent a great deal of time with Booker, keeping the old wolf company, for which he was very grateful. The boy especially enjoyed it when Booker regaled him with tales of when he was a young sailor in the Imperial Navy. Barnabas's inheritance consisted of a letter and a neatly wrapped parcel, with specific instructions not to open them until he was somewhere private. Taking the items home to his family's humble dwelling, he locked himself in his room and opened the letter, which read thusly... Dear Barnabas, Words cannot express my profound gratitude for your company this past year. You've made this old sea dog's final days very comforting. But alas, I'm afraid I haven't been completely honest with you. I was indeed a sailor for much of my younger years, but Thomas Booker is not my real name. My name is John Rogers. As for the stories I told you, you should have received a package with this letter. Inside it, you will find my personal diary, which contains the whole and unvarnished truth of my adventures from long ago. You deserve to know everything that really happened. Just don't judge me too harshly after you've read it. I was a much different man back then. At the back of the diary is a map, which leads to something I stashed away many years ago when I retired from my former life. I want you to have it. Think of it as a gift for you and your family, and as a reward for your companionship. I know not how much longer I will live. But wherever I may end up, I will always treasure our friendship more than all the gold and jewels in my coffers. Yours truly, John Morgan Rogers Unwrapping the diary, Barnabas found it to be in surprisingly good condition for an old man's life story, and figured it must have been written fairly recently. He turned to the first page and began to read. I was born seventy-eight years ago, in a small fishing village on the edge of the Eastern Isles. From a young age, I was taught by my father to sail and to survive at sea. At fifteen, I joined up with the Imperial Navy, serving as a cabin boy on a battleship, and occasionally as an assistant to the ship's cook. I wasn't aboard for a week before the ship was attacked by the most infamous and ruthless pirate of the day, Captain Storm-Mane. I saw him after the raid, as the crew were forced onto their knees and held prisoner as the notorious pirate walked along the line, glaring down at us one by one. Some of the men even wet their breeches just by meeting his gaze. Can't say I really blamed them. He was a most imposing figure, at least seven feet tall, his fangs gleaming as he growled, and his mane black as storm clouds. The lion stood before me, and for a split second, I thought I saw a gleam of something I'd never seen before in his eyes. "Hmmm, I like this one." He said as he hoisted me onto my feet. "I've been looking for a new cabin boy, and I think this one here will do nicely." He placed one huge paw on my shoulder and said, "Tell me, boy, what is your name?" I told him, and he chuckled, a deep, hearty laugh for someone so fearsome. "Well, Johnny boy, what would you say to sailing with my crew, instead of this pitiful excuse for a bunch of landlubbers?" I looked over at my shipmates and saw them silently praying to whatever gods they believed in to save them. Then, I made a choice that would change my life forever. "I'll come willingly. If you spare the rest of the crew." Storm-Mane laughed even more jolly than before. "I like this boy! He has actual courage, more than these sorry so-called sailors, at any rate! Very well, I'll let them live. But we'll still be taking what we've rightly plundered from this ship." With that, the pirates took every last bit of cargo the ship carried, and the next thing I knew, I was watching as the ship was shrinking into he distance as I now sailed aboard the dreaded Storm-Mane's pirate ship, which was more a floating fortress than anything else. |
| It wasn't easy, I will say that. There are no idle hands on any ship, not even a pirate's. I was put to work. Scrubbing the deck, mending sails, cleaning clothes, and more. However, unlike most of the crew, I was allowed into the Captain's Quarters, to clean it, and make his bed ready. Of course, if I was foolish enough to try anything, like poison the pillow, well, I soon learned what that lion would do to those that displeased him. It's said that an absence of females will make males seek out the company of each other. There's truth to this. I'd seen more an a few pairs slip off to more private parts. Sometimes, there was sounds that didn't sound like they were working. Captain Storm-Mane would tell me to do my work when I tried to bring it up, and to ignore what I'd seen and heard. One day, when no one was watching, a large bear grabbed me, a hand over my mouth, and dragged me below. He then began to undress. I asked if he wanted me to wash them. Well, he made it clear that he wasn't interested in having his clothes washed. That was when he gulped, and put his hands up. Somehow, the Captain, without me seeing him, had snuck up behind the bear, and placed the tip of a dagger against their back. He marched that bear up to the deck, and I followed him. The crew were all there, watching. He matched that bear to the railing, and asked him if he could swim. The bear said that he could. The Captain said, "Well, guess that changes things." That was when he sheathed the dagger, and, in one motion, drew his cutlass, and chopped the bear's legs and arms off. Then, he hoisted the limbless bear over the railing, dropping him. He then flung their limbs in afterwards. "Try to swim now!" He looked at the rest of the crew. "He got off lucky," he said. "Next one to lay a paw on that wolf without my approval will be skinned alive and gutted before I toss them overboard." If nothing else, I became very loyal to him after that. Any plan to kill him was gone from my mind. After a while, he became like a father to me, and I became like his son. I would do anything for him. |
| Yep! That's how it was. Me and the captain were like family. But it was too good to last. One day, sailing the high seas, we had encountered a pirate ship that every pirate was familiar with: it belonged to Captain Vivian Hoppsley! Unlike pirates who plunder and pillage, she stole from pirates and gave their treasures to the poor. That earned her the nickname, "the Robin Hood of the Seven Seas". "Captain!" The lookout, a really tall and really skinny cat with a goatee, cried. "The Legacy of Carrots approaches!" There she was, Captain Hoppsley. She was a rabbit with fairly wide hips, dressed in green, a lone hoop earring adorned her ear, and her eyes were blue like the ocean. "Avast!" She cried as she boarded our vessel. "Surrender or be prepared to be plundered by Captain Vivian Hoppsley!" Her first mate, a really chubby bear in ill-fitting clothes, landed beside her, his girth breaking a hole in the deck. |
| Storm-Mane stepped forward, and much to the surprise of the crew, myself included, instead of drawing his blade or simply shooting the rabbit where she stood, he simply said, "I've killed more men than I can count on the sea, but I'd prefer not to cross blades with a lass, pirate or not. So I propose a contest. I win, both our crews go their own ways without bloodshed. You win, you can take whatever you wish from my hold." Captain Hoppsley seemed intrigued. "You swear on your flag to keep these terms?" This was serious business as far as pirates were concerned. Whenever a pirate swears on their ship's flag, they have to keep honor whatever they promised. To do otherwise carried severe penalties. If one was lucky, they would be marooned or keelhauled for breaking such an oath. If they were unlucky, something even worse would befall them. Storm-Mane nodded. "I swear on my flag." Hoppsley sheathed her blade. "Very well. What kind of contest?" Storm-Mane ordered the crew to bring up two barrels of their best grog. Both captains would drink from their own barrels. The first one to pass out would be the loser. They both drank cup after cup, one after the other. I couldn't believe how well Hoppsley could handle her liquor! She must have drunk half her barrel and still showed no signs of drunkenness. Not that our captain was a slouch, mind you, but I'd never seen anyone drink as much as her, let alone a woman! |
| Cup for cup, they matched one another, and soon - "Looks like the grog is gone," said Hoppsley. "So it seems," said our captain. Both barrels were out. "Well, either break out two more barrels, or, we can get down to the real reason I sought you out," said Hoppsley. "And what might that be?" our captain asked. "Treasure - more than either of us could claim alone, but together, we might be able to manage it, unless we convince one or two others that can be trusted to throw in with our arrangement," said Hoppsley. "I know the location of it. Problem is, there's a snag or three." "Go on?" our captain said. "It's Whitestripe, and his fleet, not to mention those Navy fellas he has in his back pockets," the rabbit said. "I never could stand that skunk," our captain said. "Cheated me out of some good loot, and then there was that lass he stole from me, and then marooned. I found her too late." "I heard, hence why I thought of you when I found out about Whitestripe," the rabbit said. "You up for a chance at revenge, as well as loot?" |
| Storm-Mane stepped forth and took her hand. "Aye," he said. Then, Captain Vivian came walking my way. "What really won me over was your charming cabin boy," she said before giving me a kiss. Did she just call me charming? In my family, I was always the runt. No matter how hard I tried, I could never fight my metabolism. Oh, well. I'm just a skinny runt and that's all I'll ever be. Besides, she's the Robin Hood of the Seven Seas and I'm just a cabin boy. |
| Before setting out after this Whitestripe character, both captains decided it would be best to resupply, seeing as it would be a long journey. Several longboats were sent out to a nearby island to bring back fresh fruit and water. They never returned. Some more boats were sent to see what was taking so long. They never returned either. Finally, Storm-Mane and I rowed to the island ourselves, determined to get to the bottom of these supposed disappearances. "If I find out they've deserted my crew, I'll have their guts for fishing line." Storm-Mane growled as we made land on the shore of the island. We trekked into the jungle and came to a waterfall, where, much to our astonishment, a group of vixens, gorgeous ones at that, were bathing and frolicking in the water. At first, we thought they might be sea sirens, said to lure sailors to their deaths. Little did we realize we weren't far off on that assumption. There was a sudden thud and a pain on the back of my skull as everything went dark. I can only assume the same thing happened to the captain. The next thing we knew, we awoke to find ourselves tied to stakes in the center of a village of huts, a large fire burning before us. All around were other vixens, staring at us hungrily. That's when I saw one of them turning a spit over the fire, with a few of our crewmates tied to it, being roasted over the flames. This was a tribe of vixen cannibals. And we were on the menu. |
| That was the bad news. The good news - we knew that there had to be some sort of trap. Thus Hoppsley had hid in the bottom of the longboat, and trailed after us, especially after the two of us were captured. I will also say this - anyone who says that rabbits are peaceful and gentle creatures, never saw one get angry. Well, let's just say that I'm glad that she wasn't our enemy. Not a vixen was left alive when we rowed back to our ships. By the time we managed to get fresh supplies, thanks to the rest of the joint-crews, Hoppsley was wearing a skirt made from the ears of those cannibals, the rest of their bodies hanging upside-down from the trees. As it was, the crew, upon learning the truth about what had happened to their shipmates, took their own symbolic retributions out upon the bodies. It was hard to find any that were anything close to being intact once the crews were done. After that, we set sail for Tortuga. There, we met up with "Blazing Wild" Red Flame, a former lover of hers. He was a fox - much like our late foes. Unlike our late foes, upon hearing about what had happened to her crew, and ours, he got out a very good bottle of wine, which he shared with her, and our captain. Upon hearing the rest of the story, he agreed to throw in with us. But, he did have a question to ask Hoppsley. "Whose cabin do we share at night?" Her answer surprised me. She sent him flying with a kick, and went back to her ship, to get her crew organized to get more supplies.. "I take it that she still hasn't forgiven me for sleeping with her sister," Red said, getting up off the floor, rubbing his jaw. "I keep telling her that it was an accident. That, and they both smell similar, especially when everyone had too much rum to drink." |
| A week had passed, and we didn't see Captain Vivian again until the next time we came to Tortuga. At the Bob's Your Uncle Inn, to be precise. It wasn't always called that. The owner, Bob, who is a large cat with an equally large stomach, won it from a friend in a game of cribbage. He was becoming an uncle at the time that happened. That's why he changed its name to the Bob's Your Uncle Inn. Over time, his three nieces Ivy, Michelle, and Lilly came to work for him. Ivy, the eldest at 18 years old, helped in the kitchen and was the waitress. Michelle, the middle niece at 12 years old, usually cleaned the floors. Lilly, the youngest at 6 years old, was too young to do any real work. She just worked with feeding the animals in the stables and made the beds for the guests. Storm-Mane had seated himself at a table near the kitchen. As I went to join him, I ran into the chubby bear that was Captain Vivian's first mate. "Oh, ahoy, lad!" He said to me. I wanted to scream and run, but I felt a paw cover my mouth. I turned to see my attacker. It was Captain Vivian! "Uh, hi," I said as she took her paw off my mouth. "I want to thank you for saving our lives on that island." "No problem," she replied. She pulled me close and we shared a kiss. "Sorry if my first mate Mr. Bramble scared you," she said. "Please, Captain," Mr. Bramble said. "You can call me Jim." "Okay," I said. "Hello, Jim." Another really chubby bear approached us. This one was a cub, though. Like Jim, his clothes didn't fit him well. I mean, his striped shirt was riding up, revealing his stomach, but the sleeves were ripped off. He had a gold hoop earring on one ear and wore an eyepatch. This was her cabin boy, Beary. He was also Jim's nephew. "So this is your true love, isn't he, Captain Boss Ms. Vivian Ma'am," he said. What was I going to say? If I told Storm-Mane that Vivian and I had shared a kiss, he'd think I had betrayed him. Fate handed me a cruel dilemma. Do I stay loyal to Storm-Mane or do I run off with Captain Vivian as my true love? |
| That's when it hit me. What in the world was I thinking?! I was only fifteen, and Hoppsley was at least twice my age. Besides that, I was a wolf and she was a rabbit. It just wouldn't work. Thankfully, Vivan seemed to share my thoughts. "No, I just think he's cute, is all." She ruffled the fur on my head, and I smiled at her. The following morning, both our ships set out to find Whitestripe. I was aboard Hoppsley's ship, and the crew was passing the time with a few rounds of Liar's Dice. They invited me to join their game, and I figured I had nothing else to do at the moment. That's when I met her. Annie Reeds, the most beautiful lass who ever sailed the sea. Or at least she was to my mind. She was another fox, in every sense of the word, and so far had cleaned out every other crewman that opposed her in the game. I don't know why, even now, but I was feeling brave and rather lucky at that moment, and decided to up the stakes. "What shall we wager?" Annie asked, still counting her loot from previous rounds. "If I win, you give me a kiss," I said, and there was dead silence across the deck, except for the sound of the waves crashing against the hull. Annie chuckled, amused by my brazenness, I presumed. "Very well, but if I win, you will be my...shall we say, newest acquisition for the rest of the voyage." I wasn't really sure what she meant by that. But whatever it was, I figured it couldn't be too bad. So we agreed, and the game began. |
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